So, I decided to dust off my old map and make some changes to maybe make it more interesting.
Map has been published in EU under the name Psi-lab if you are interested in trying it out.
[image loading]

Fatam

1986 Posts

July 10 2013 19:56 GMT

#1302

Pretty solid. Those rocks @ the third seem like they should be made more important, as-is they make what appears to be a ~15 square wide choke into a 12 square choke. Kinda negligible difference, unlikely to get killed most of the time I would imagine.

Meavis

Netherlands1300 Posts

July 10 2013 20:17 GMT

#1303

okay, so at first I wanted to make a map inspired by http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Wind_and_Cloud
but after going on for a while, I ended up with the balance clusterfuck that is this [image loading]

(ignore the dark lines I have no idea how it got there)
Anyone got some advice on how I can make this map a bit more balanced again before I continue?
Also, I'd like to keep the natural layout like that, I just cant take the standard main+nat layout anymore.

aband0ned

South Africa6 Posts

July 11 2013 03:07 GMT

#1304

@Elche : Looks interesting ... I'll try it when I get a chance!!

AusBandit

Australia5 Posts

July 11 2013 04:09 GMT

#1305

Redeisgn of Drowned City. Thanks to algue and TheFish7 for the feedback

Whole map: (Larger image: http://i.imgur.com/6FJKOyp.jpg)
[image loading]

More images:
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Main, nat and 3rd:
[image loading]

View toward main, showing possible 4th:
[image loading]

Possible 4th and 5th:
[image loading]

As you can see, I've really tried to reduce the empty space and have widened the chokes. They're still very present, however.

-NegativeZero-

United States2141 Posts

July 11 2013 04:21 GMT

#1306

@Meavis: The area around the nat and 3rd is too narrow, especially with those tiny low ground holes. Remove those and pull the nat/3rd closer to the main to widen that corridor where the low ground holes currently are. Also it's best to put a cliff edge at the map border so there's no question as to where the pathable terrain ends.

@AusBandit: This is definitely an improvement from the previous version. However, most people will likely complain that your map basically breaks all the normal conventions of mapmaking. It's good to experiment with different ideas, but you should probably first learn how to make a "standard" map, which needs:
-Narrow ramp to the main
-Natural right next to the main entrance, usually with 1 entrance (occasionally 2) that covers both the main and nat
-3rd base reasonably close (but not too close) to the nat, not too open and not too choked (your map actually does have this)
-Multiple ground paths the players can take to reach their opponent (your map has 2, but they're spread too far apart and too narrow)

Look at some pro maps, or maps by established mapmaking teams (TPW, ESV, Crux, etc.) to get an idea of some reasonable map proportions (distances between bases, average openness, balance between open areas and chokes, etc.)

Then, once you've gotten an idea of the normal mapmaking "rules", you can work on figuring out how to break them lol.

AusBandit

Australia5 Posts

July 11 2013 04:51 GMT

#1307

Much appreciated NegativeZero

It certainly has a very different feel when playing it. I'll load up some established maps and see how they do things. Looking to move onto a new project now.

-NegativeZero-

United States2141 Posts

July 11 2013 07:08 GMT

#1308

Trying to see if the layout I posted earlier will work better with rotational symmetry. Here are two similar options, which do you think works better?

Meavis

Netherlands1300 Posts

July 11 2013 13:30 GMT

#1309

okay, multiple projects I'm working on right now
Earthquake
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Gforce
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Meltdown
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Neo outsider
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If anyone would be so kind to point out issues and which ones are ready for aesthetics.

greenroom

United States20 Posts

July 11 2013 23:29 GMT

#1310

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"Ulaan Underground" (152x158). Created on 7/11/13 and published in US.

Any thoughts or opinions?

indeechaos

1 Post

July 12 2013 04:18 GMT

#1311

Syphon8

Canada298 Posts

July 12 2013 06:55 GMT

#1312

More work on that one from a few pages back. 132x128.

monitor

United States2408 Posts

July 12 2013 07:03 GMT

#1313

Lovin it Syphon. The top right/bottom left areas are too clustered with expos I think... and the gold is odd. I can live with it but it seems like 2 expos would make more sense down there making 12 total bases instead of 14 (little oversaturated for 132x128 imo). You could just make another functional entrance to the corner base in the existing gold location. That would make the corners feel a lot more comfortable. At least, it's worth a shot I think.

Syphon8

Canada298 Posts

July 12 2013 16:56 GMT

#1314

Great points but I think 12 bases is a bit too few, ideally I want 6.5 bases for each player. The gold was planned to be low with minerals; anywhere else on the map you think could support a half base? Because I agree with revamping those corners, think it's too tight right now.

monitor

United States2408 Posts

July 12 2013 20:48 GMT

#1315

Not sure about that. I still think 6 per player is fine. I guess just try some things and see what you like.

I've got 3 WIP maps... if anybody wants the files, let me to know.

Sonar
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Vesuvius
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Unnamed
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TheFish7

United States2824 Posts

July 12 2013 20:52 GMT

#1316

Vesuvius is awesome monitor! I dig it

@greenroom - Way too easy to split that map down the middle

BlindSC2

United Kingdom435 Posts

July 12 2013 22:51 GMT

#1317

@19Meavis93
Sweet Jesus Neo Outsider looks cool, although I wonder if terrans might get an 'invulnerable' early base if they float a cc behind one of the mineral field walls. The symmetry would need some work (I assume all spawns would be enabled?), but that looks really promising IMO.

@monitor
Seems like you've got a stray ramp on the bottom right main on Vesuvius
I'm not sure about how close that centre high ground is to the natural, feels like it would be too easy to set up a soft contain. Imagine tanks behind the high yield geyser there, you could cover both ramps it seems like. Aside from that ramp and the high yield expo in relation to it, I really like it

Been working on this one here and there for a while now, took a while over the last week to bring some things together and make it look (at least a little bit) like a single, whole map rather than just a bunch of parts.

Small Album

Playable bounds: 156x124
Rush distance (ramp to ramp for worker): 41 secs
10 normal bases
2 high yields (6 high yield mins, 1 high yield geyser)

My main concern with this at the moment is the travel distance to both the potential thirds, especially in terms of creep tumours.

edit: just noticed that I had forgotten to shorten the little ledge that runs alongside/above the low ground third at 2-ish o'clock (compare to 8-ish o'clock - how it should be)

Fatam

1986 Posts

July 12 2013 23:22 GMT

#1318

Have 2 maps coming before this one, but thought I'd put this layout out and see if anyone has thoughts in advance.
FFE is not too weird, it's just an 11 square FFE split between the adjacent entrances (need 2 pylons + 3 3x3's total)
I don't usually like 7 expos per side, but I think it makes some sense here to fully validate all the possible expansion patterns. All the pods are just unpathable overlord spots.

@ blind I would probably try to scoot the 3rd slightly closer to the nat without messing much w/ the terrain. Overall map design seems pretty solid. Maybe if you want to get wild add a rocked backdoor to the nat connecting to that area where the xel'naga tower is.

Syphon8

Canada298 Posts

July 12 2013 23:36 GMT

#1319

@Monitor I'm drooling over the layout of Vesuvius.

moskonia

Israel1448 Posts

July 12 2013 23:59 GMT

#1320

Monitor, I still think Sonar is one awesome map and would love to test it.
For Vesuvius except for blink pressure / all in this map is really awesome, although the gold might be too easy, but maybe not.

Fatam, you should switch the minerals and the gas at the nat, so you can watch over the minerals with an overlord, this is important for ZvZ. Other than that, FFE is awkward. It doesn't matter the 'normal' size, it just looks weird imo, and also having a wide nat entrance + backdoor is not advised, but not that bad, just makes all ins pretty strong on this map.

Map overall seems interesting but it feels like there are too many expansions, although I guess that is not a real problem since the bases are pretty spread out.